A RECONSTRUCTION group working on the Montgomery Canal has been chosen to be part of a special camp from a national association.

The Inland Waterways Association’s Waterway Recovery Group visited the work being undertaken on the Schoolhouse Bridge, near Crickheath, Oswestry, to undertake a week of preparatory tasks, ready for the hoped-for start of the project in the spring.

The bridge is the last highway blockage in Shropshire and one of the obstructions that must be removed to reopen the canal into Mid Wales.

The bridge rebuild will involve closing the highway known as Long Lane, digging out the embankment across the canal, constructing the bridge and restoring the highway – all in a matter of months.

Michael Limbrey, chairman of the Montgomery Waterway Restoration Trust, said: “Leading councillors were very positive when we made our proposal to reconstruct this last highway blockage in Shropshire.

"It is however a very unusual project; it’s not often that a bunch of volunteers wants to close a public highway and rebuild a bridge over a derelict canal.

“We are delighted that the national Waterway Recovery Group selected our project as one of only four for a very limited programme this summer.

"Normally, they would operate some twenty work parties through the year at canal restorations right across England and Wales.

"Lockdown has now affected the group for two seasons and only very recently were they able to decide to run any work parties this year.

“As is usual for a canal camp, volunteers aged from 17 to 75 came from across the West Midlands and further afield, including County Durham, Leicestershire and around London.

“The visitors stayed at Porthywaen Silver Band Hall – sleeping on a hall floor is one of the special features of a Waterway Recovery Group work party – and we are most grateful to the Band for generously providing the facilities of their hall.

“When the main project gets under way we shall of course use specialists for major elements but it is only with the help of volunteers that we can keep the cost within the charity funds we have raised.

"We can help with training and can offer experience that will help anyone looking to work in construction, or indeed looking to wind down after a working life on site.

"This week’s preparation will help us off to a flying start next year.”

As well as recruiting volunteers for this intensive programme of bridge building next year, other volunteers of the regular Shropshire Union Canal Society group will be working to finish restoring the canal to Crickheath Basin.

"A spokesman for the Porthywaen Silver Band said: “We are very pleased to have been able to help the Waterway Recovery Group with accommodation again."